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Selassie: A very modern monarch

Published:Wednesday
| September 18, 2013 | 12:00 AM

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On
the anniversary of the end of his rule, we examine how Haile Selassie helped
bring Africa into the 20th century.

Jermaine Haughton, Voice Writer

HAILE SELASSIE (1892 - 1975) was deposed as Emperor of Ethiopia 39 years
ago in a military coup, ending his more than half-a-century reign over the
only African nation never to be officially colonised.

Standing at a diminutive 5ft
4ins, Selassie was both Napoleonic in stature and resilience, defiantly seeing
off the five-year fascist occupation of Ethiopia during the Second World War,
belligerent in his determination for a strong and powerful united Africa and
its diaspora.

Selassie - heir to a dynasty
which claimed origins dating back to King Solomon - was denounced by his
critics as an undemocratic, pampered leader who enjoyed life's finer luxuries
and who allegedly transferred billions of pounds of public funds into private
overseas bank accounts.

But his supporters will
conversely argue that he was responsible for leading a largely illiterate,
rural and feudal country with 2,000 languages and dialects into the 20th
century.

God Incarnate

To followers of the Rastafari
movement, he was God incarnate. Most notable was Selassie's contribution to
African unity and the pan-African movement.

A fellow African who met the
emperor at the United Nations Security Council session in Addis Ababa in 1972
surmised: "Haile Selassie is one of the world's great men. He did a lot
for his country and early became a respected voice for Africa and for the
Third World." Indeed, in 1935, he was named Time magazine's Man of the Year.

Ras Habte Wold, from West
Midlands-based research group Rastafari Heritage, spoke of the emperor's
impact on Africa. He said: "He modernised Ethiopia and brought her out of
the dark ages into the modern world. His efforts led Ethiopia to join the League
of Nations in September 1923.

"He, through the 'Power
of the Holy Trinity' [which translates as Haile Selassie in Amharic language],
shone a bright light of liberation that inspired black people across the world
to shake off the yoke of captivity and 'down-pression' and to stand as free
men.

"This light which he
shone among his own African people would also light up the lives of all
peoples, tongues, colours and nations. The emperor is called the 'Father of
Africa' for his work towards bringing unity amongst the African countries
which had disputes, being a founder member of the OAU (Organisation of African
Unity), and then wider afield championed world peace across the globe."

Ethiopia's First Universities

It was Selassie who
established one of Ethiopia's first universities, now Addis Ababa University,
which taught political economy and law, among other subjects, as well as
enabling the Ethiopian military to learn the sophisticated training techniques
of allies like the United States - which were to be used against him in the
military coup in 1974.

His pan-Africanism ideology
was influential across the globe, reflected in the civil-rights movement in
the US and in South Africa. It is based on the belief that unity is vital to
economic, social, and political progress and aims to "unify and uplift"
people of African descent.

Alongside other important
thinkers such as Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta, Selassie's influence was
important for the creation of the African Union (AU) in 2001, consisting of
every African state barring Morocco - making it the largest and most influential
pan-African organisation in the world. With economic growth among Africa's
larger nations such as Angola, Ghana and Nigeria up to around four per cent,
the AU is in a special strategic position, both politically and
geographically.

It, therefore, suggests that
the AU can play an important role in brokering important decisions for its
people and overseas.

Toyin Agbetu, founder of the
Pan-African human-rights organisation Ligali, argued that the unification of
African people is more urgently needed within governments rather than in local
communities: "The unification of Africa has been going on for many years
at a trade level, with people freely selling and buying goods from different
countries - sharing their experiences, language and customs. On the other
hand, there is a lack of unification on a political and economic level, partly
due to the living legacy of the way Africa was divided by colonial powers.

"The AU has great
potential to improve the standing of the continent. Work still needs to be
done, though. In the past, the AU has been used as a talking shop for
politicians, while there are people who are doing some great work under the
radar, who don't make the headlines."

However, Agbetu adds that it
is the education of the people which is needed to drive greater cooperation
among African nations. "People can create that change. We cannot wait for
others to decide our futures. We all have to embrace political literacy and
create leaders who can make the change we want. So far, many African countries
have struggled to translate their personal relationships
institutionally."

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